Storytelling – An Introduction

The practice of storytelling enhances communicational and presentational skills, develops imagination and the ability to improvise. Participants of this workshop will learn the basic steps of oral storytelling and how they can create a unique voice that enhances their story.

The art of traditional storytelling has been existing since the beginning of time and was always crucial for the development of the cultures. Even now, in our modernized world, stories are inseparably linked to our lives. We tell stories every day: both our own and those of other people. Communication is unthinkable without something to tell. But what are the differences between storytelling as an art form and the every-day storytelling? How do I make a story come truly alive, be it a personal or a traditional one?

This course investigates the basic steps of oral storytelling and how we can release a story from a book or from a memory, or that is to say – how we can give the story its voice back. The work enhances communication and presentation skills, as well as develops imagination and the ability to improvise. Traditional stories are the basis for this course, but biographical and improvised material will also be used. We will focus on the playful development of the language and look at different means of physical communication. Participants will listen to stories and share experiences in reflexions and discussions.

CONTENT

•     Traditional, biographical and improvised stories
•     Performance/Demonstration
•     A playful introduction to creative language
•     Awareness of the body language
•     Constructive audience feedback
•     Reflexion and discussions

METHODS

The workshop consists of mnemo- and visualization techniques, improvisation, and retelling. Participants will use storyboarding and story mapping to familiarize themselves and others with the structure of the story. All of the work is based on non-text bound telling.

PARTICIPANTS

The course is open to anyone interested in oral storytelling. No previous experience is required.

Suse Weisse is an award-winning storyteller, a director, actress and lecturer, a psychologist, and a drama teacher. She is frequently invited to international storytelling festivals and has performed at Nordic Voices in Finland, Cape Clear in Ireland, the Scottish Storytelling Festival in Edinburgh, Alden Biesen in Belgium, Beyond the Border in Wales. She has been teaching Storytelling in Art and Education at the Berlin University of Arts since 2011.  Amongst many other projects, she founded an association for storytelling called ErzählWerk e.V. in Potsdam which is planning and realizing social-cultural storytelling projects like the yearly International Storytelling Festival verbale!. She lives and works freelance in Potsdam, Berlin and around the world and is a mother of two boys.

suseweisse.de